Thursday, April 7, 2016

Hello, Carson!

Posted by: Kirsten
Pisto, Communications

Photos: Jeremy
Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

If you’ve wandered through the Wildlife Survival Zone in the
last week, you may have noticed an adorable new face peering out from atop his
pine tree perch. Our newest member of the red panda family has been spotted
chasing squirrels, eating pine cones and playfully exploring his new digs.

Meet Carson, a 2-year-old, male red panda. Carson was born
at Lincoln Children’s Zoo in July 2014 and was named after the famous television
host Johnny Carson, who shares the panda’s birth city. Carson arrived at
Woodland Park Zoo this February and has been collecting a host of fans ever
since. This handsome red panda has a unique look; a paler face, lighter coat
and slightly smaller physical features. Carson is a fulgens subspecies of red
panda, so he is easy to tell apart from our other two pandas, Yukiko and
Stellar.

10-year-old male, Yukiko, and 8-year-old female, Stellar are
hanging out off exhibit where the two can spend time together through the
breeding season and beyond. The zoo hopes for a baby red panda in the near
future.

Since Carson has the on-view exhibit to himself, there will
be no confusing him with any other panda. Of course, keepers tell us he also
has quite the personality. “Carson is much more playful then our previous red
pandas,” says Jamie Delk, zookeeper at Woodland Park Zoo. “He’s likely to be
spotted climbing around in the trees of his exhibit and snacking on some of the
newly grown leaves and pine cones.” Carson has also been observed sleeping high
up in the tree, much like the zoo’s other male red panda Yukiko, and chasing
squirrels. “He’s still young and very active; we’re excited to have him here.”

Carson, like all red pandas, has a fiery red coat and a
thick, bushy tail. His paws are built for climbing and scrambling up to the
highest lookouts on the pine trees. Being an energetic youngster, you’ll see
him patrol from the treetops down to the grassy ground and then right back up
again. In the wild, red pandas are primarily solitary creatures, and spend a
lot of their time patrolling the perimeter of their territory.

All of our red pandas are fed leaf-eater biscuits, bamboo,
and various fruits and berries, but Carson has a special palate for plants that
he finds in his exhibit such as pine cones, grass and salal (a native northwest
treat). In the wild, red pandas forage for bamboo shoots, leaves, grasses,
roots, fruits, lichens and acorns. They occasionally eat insects, eggs, young
birds and small rodents.

Whether it is his curious temperament, playful antics or
simply his adorable face, Carson is sure to become a popular ambassador for his
wild counterparts. The plight of this vulnerable species is an issue that needs
your support. In the wild, fewer than 10,000 red pandas remain in their native
habitat of bamboo forests in China, the Himalayas and Myanmar. Their numbers
are declining due to deforestation, increased agriculture and cattle grazing,
as well as urban sprawl.

Woodland Park Zoo supports the Red Panda Network working to conserve this flagship species in Nepal. To help
support the project and celebrate Carson’s arrival, you can adopt a red panda by becoming a ZooParent.

You can visit Carson in the Wildlife Survival Zone (between
the flamingos and the maned wolves). The best times to view Carson are early in
the day while he is enjoying breakfast and later in the afternoon when he is
most active. Though he is young and full of energy, he is likely to be napping
during the middle parts of the day, especially in the summer. If you can’t easily
spot him, look up!